|
I.
Sorrowful Mystery
Agony
of Jesus in the Garden
 Then Jesus went
with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to
them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and
troubled. Then he said to them, "My
soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here
and keep watch with me." Going a little farther, he fell
with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it
is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will,
but as you will."
Then he returned to his disciples
and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with
me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you
will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
body is weak." He went away a second time and
prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to
be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." When he came back, he again found
them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away
once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples
and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?
Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the
hands of sinners. (Mt 26, 36-45).
And being in
anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops
of blood falling to the ground. (Lk 22,
44).
Returning the
third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and
resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my
betrayer!"
(Mk 14, 41-42).
Jesus replied,
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a
kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (Jn 12, 23-24).
Meditating this
mystery we pray one Our Father, ten Hail Maries, Glory
Be, The Fatima Prayer.
------------------------- II.
Sorrowful Mystery
Scourging
of Jesus at Pillar
 Very early in the
morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the
law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound
Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. "Are you the king of the
Jews?" asked Pilate. "Yes, it is as you say,"
Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of
many things. So again Pilate asked him,
"Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are
accusing you of."
But Jesus still made no reply, and
Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the Feast
to release a prisoner whom the people requested.
A man called Barabbas was in
prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the
uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate
to do for them what he usually did. "Do you want me to release to
you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy that
the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up
the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. "What shall I do, then, with
the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them. "Crucify him!" they
shouted. "Why? What crime has he
committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder,
"Crucify him!" Wanting to satisfy the crowd,
Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and
handed him over to be crucified. (Mt 26-27; Mk 15;
Jn 18-19).
Meditating this
mystery we pray one Our Father, ten Hail Maries, Glory
Be, The Fatima Prayer.
------------------------- III.
Sorrowful Mystery
Crowning
with Thorns
 The soldiers led
Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called
together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him,
then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to
him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Again and again they struck him
on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their
knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him,
they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him.
Then they led him out to crucify him. (Mk 15, 16-20; Mt 27, 27-31;
Jn 19, 2-5).
To this you were
called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that you should follow in his steps.
(1 Pt 2, 21).
Meditating this
mystery we pray one Our Father, ten Hail Maries, Glory
Be, The Fatima Prayer.
------------------------- IV.
Sorrowful Mystery
Carrying
the Cross
 From then on,
Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting,
"If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.
Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar." When Pilate heard this, he
brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place
known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of
Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your
king," Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, "Take him
away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify
your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but
Caesar," the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to
them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went
out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called
Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one
on each side and Jesus in the middle. (Jn 19, 12-18).
There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but
after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
When they had crucified him, they
divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch
over him there. Above his head they placed the
written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(Mt 27, 34-37).
He himself bore
our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins
and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going
astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer
of your souls.
(1 Pt 2, 24-25).
When Jesus spoke
again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life." (Jn 8, 12).
Meditating this
mystery we pray one Our Father, ten Hail Maries, Glory
Be, The Fatima Prayer.
-------------------------
V.
Sorrowful Mystery
Crucifixion
 When they came to
the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with
the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left.
(Lk 23, 33; Mk 15).
Near the cross of
Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there,
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his
mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here
is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her
into his home.
(Jn 19,
25-27).
Later, knowing
that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be
fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there,
so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the
hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink,
Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit. Now it was the day of
Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.
Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses
during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken
and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and
broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with
Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and
found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers
pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of
blood and water. The man who saw it has given
testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the
truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the
scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be
broken," and, as another scripture says,
"They will look on the one they have pierced." (Jn 19, 28-37)
Meditating this
mystery we pray one Our Father, ten Hail Maries, Glory
Be, The Fatima Prayer.
At
the end of the Rosary it is recommended to pray one Our
Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, and the Litanies
of Loreto and The Hail, Holy Queen.
|
